history
Who in the World is George Washington?
By Andrea Garrett
CBN News Sr. Producer
CBN.com –
(CBN News) - As the nation observes the 273rd anniversary
of George Washington's birth, our first president's accomplishments
are fading from the nation's consciousness. Many public school
children no longer learn about President Washington in the classroom.
Some states have even removed required teaching about Washington
from their standards of learning (SOLs), saying specific instruction
about Washington is not needed.
James Rees is the executive director of Mt. Vernon, George Washington's
home.
Rees said, “I think the concept that people will learn
about Washington, Jefferson, [and] Adams through some sort of
osmosis is ridiculous.”
He added, “To think that generations of Americans are not
being introduced to this hero, this great leader, is in my mind
inexcusable, and quite shameful.”
But school children are not learning about great Americans like
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. They are
not learning a lot of other basics of American history, either.
And it is a problem that is getting worse.
A recent survey conducted by the American Council of Trustees
and Alumni shows that four out of five seniors from the top 55
colleges and universities received a grade of "D" or
"F" on their knowledge of American history. They could
not identify Valley Forge, famous words from the Gettysburg Address,
or even the basic principles of the Constitution.
Why don't they know the basics of American history? Part of the
reason may be because students can now graduate from 100 percent
of the top colleges in the United States without taking a single
course in American history.
And 78 percent of colleges and universities do not require students
to take any history at all.
As for Washington, Rees says school textbooks today have as little
as one-tenth the coverage of him as they had 30 or 40 years ago.
And, he believes that Americans no longer appreciate the legacy
that Washington left behind.
Rees commented, “It's impossible to overstate how much
George Washington's character and leadership formed this country
and enabled it to stay the course, to become the great country
we are today.”
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